Barr then spelled out what would constitute obstruction, such as witness tampering. And he specifically said that even the president could be guilty in that case:

“Obviously, the President and any other official can commit obstruction in this classic sense of sabotaging a proceeding’s truth-finding function. Thus, for example, if a President knowingly destroys or alters evidence, suborns perjury, or induces a witness to change testimony, or commits any act deliberately impairing the integrity or availability of evidence, then he, like anyone else, commits the crime of obstruction.”

Barr confirmed his position during his Senate confirmation hearings this week during this exchange with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.):

Sen. Amy Klobuchar on Tuesday: "In your memo...you wrote on page 1 that a president persuading a person to commit perjury would be obstruction, is that right?"Attorney General nominee Bill Barr: "Yes" pic.twitter.com/doma7BTmkC

As in the memo, Barr and Graham were trying to defend Trump from obstruction charges by saying that his actions related to Comey ― including firing him ― wouldn’t be considered obstruction. But in doing so, they may have helped to spell out exactly what Trump was accused of in the BuzzFeed report.